


All or Nothing

by Metz77



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 04:04:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4207197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metz77/pseuds/Metz77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During a bit of downtime, the Doctor has taught his companions how to play poker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All or Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably be most entertaining if you know how to play Texas Hold 'Em, but I'm pretty sure it makes sense even if you don't.

"This game is infuriating!" Tegan declared, throwing her cards down on the table.

"Really?" Adric said. "I find it's quite easy once you've memorized the odds. Then again," he added with a smirk, "I suppose that's not as easy for you. You're only human, after all."

"This _human_ is going to pop you one in a minute," Tegan warned him.

"Easy, Tegan, easy," the Doctor soothed. "It's just a friendly game of poker, that's all." He slid the chips to Adric's side of the table.

"I'm still not sure I see the point of this," Nyssa said, pushing her blind into the middle of the table. "It's quite diverting, of course, and the psychology of the game is fascinating, but it does seem a fast way to lose a lot of money."

"It seems like an easy way to make a lot of money if you're any good at it," Adric said smugly. "Five hundred."

"I fold," the Doctor said, laying down his cards and sitting back to scrutinize his companions.

"Oh, to hell with this," Tegan groused. "I'm going to get lunch." She shoved her chair back and stormed from the room.

The Doctor reached over and scooped up her cards, glancing at them as he did. 9-2 offsuit. Poor Tegan never did have the best luck.

Nyssa glanced at her cards. "I call," she said without a moment's hesitation.

Adric's eyes widened, and though the smile remained on his face, it slipped a notch or two. It ratcheted back up as the Doctor dealt the three flop cards: the jack of clubs, the three of spades, and the king of spades.

The Doctor eyed Nyssa as she considered the spread on the table. Her eyes flicked briefly, analytically to Adric's face, then back to the face-up cards. "Check," she said.

"One thousand," Adric said immediately, toppling his pile of chips as he shoved them forward to join the pot.

"Two thousand," Nyssa said just as quickly.

Adric's head whipped around. "What?"

Nyssa pushed her piles of chips into the center of the table. "I bet two thousand."

"Come off it, you checked before," Adric insisted.

Nyssa shrugged. "Shall I take this to mean you fold?"

"Of course not," Adric huffed. "I call."

The next card was the jack of diamonds. Nyssa looked Adric in the eye, smiled, and pushed four thousand into the pot. The Doctor could see Adric weighing the odds in his head. His eyes flicked from his own cards to Nyssa's face to her cards to the community cards and then back again. Sweat was breaking out on his brow.

One of the things that the Doctor knew must be on Adric's mind was the amount Nyssa had won so far. He had taken some spectacularly large pots, but Nyssa had been gradually growing her stack by taking a lot of smaller pots. They were about even, and the Doctor was sure Adric had planned to gain the rest of Tegan's chips before going after Nyssa. (The Doctor's own pile had grown rather pitifully small — he'd always been better at bridge or chemin-de-fer than poker.)

"Call."

As Adric pushed his chips forward, the Doctor dealt the river card: the ace of clubs. Nyssa, after a moment's consideration, bet half the pot: six thousand.

"All in!" Adric declared loudly, shoving his chips into the center of the table and turning his gaze on Nyssa.

The Trakenite princess leaned forward, gazing unseeingly at the community cards with her hands steepled in front of her face. She remained silent for a long moment, thinking, analyzing.

Adric broke into her reverie. "There's no shame in folding, Nyssa. It would be ridiculous to throw good money after bad at this point."

But the Doctor knew that if Nyssa folded now, the game was Adric's. She'd be left with so few chips that he could bully her into folding almost any hand. This was it, then. It was all or nothing.

Nyssa sat back. She smiled. "I call." She pushed the remainder of her chips into the center of the table.

"Well, you tried your best, I'm sure," Adric said jovially, grinning as he flipped over the queen and ten of hearts. "Ace-high straight. Good game—"

"Four of a kind," Nyssa interrupted, flipping over the jack of hearts and the jack of spades. "I believe the pot is mine."

"—what."

"Well _done_ , Nyssa!" the Doctor exclaimed. " _Very_ well bet! I honestly thought Adric had you for a moment."

"But, I... how...?" All the color had drained from Adric's face. His hand was lying limp on the table halfway to the huge pile of chips.

"I noticed that you tend to overbet after you win a big hand," Nyssa explained, sweeping the chips toward her and beginning to sort them by color. "So judging by your betting and the cards on the table I surmised that you had either a high straight draw or a flush draw. I had the upper hand on the flop, and secured the victory on the turn. From there it was merely a matter of drawing you into betting the way I wanted you to."

"But.. the odds of..." Adric stood up abruptly, rushing from the room before his chair had even finished clattering to the floor.

Nyssa looked at the Doctor, concern written on her features. "Will he be all right?"

"Yes, I'm sure," the Doctor said. "Only his pride is wounded. I'll have a talk with him later if he's still sulking. Meanwhile..." He rose from his chair. "I think you've earned the right to decide where and when we have dinner tomorrow. I'll meet you in the console room shortly to go over your options."

Nyssa smiled as she followed the Doctor out of the room. She felt now that she better understood the point of the game. It was dangerous, but the promised reward at the end was worth the risk. Now, hadn't the Doctor once told her about a café in Paris...?

**Author's Note:**

> In case you're wondering, here were the hands:  
> 
> 
>   * Doctor (Dealer): 4S 2C  
> 
>   * Tegan (SB): 9H 2D  
> 
>   * Nyssa (BB): JH JS  
> 
>   * Adric (UTG): QH 10H  
> 
>   * Community: JC 3S KS JD AC 
> 



End file.
